State Highlights: Oregon Makes It Easier For Most-Critical Patients To Access Aid-In-Dying Meds Quicker; 125,000 Texans Could Lose SNAP Benefits Under New Rule

The Associated Press: Oregon Removes Assisted Suicide Wait For Certain Patients
Legislation allowing certain terminally ill patients to have quicker access to life-ending medications under the state’s first-in-the-nation assisted suicide law has been signed into law, Gov. Kate Brown’s office announced Wednesday. The law allows those with 15 days left to live to bypass a 15-day waiting period required under the Death with Dignity Act, something proponents say will reduce bureaucracy and bring relief to gravely ill people. (Zimmerman, 7/24)

Texas Tribune: Thousands Of Texans Could Lose Food Stamps Under Trump’s New Proposal
The Trump administration is proposing tightened requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — also known as food stamps — that could end food assistance for more than 3 million Americans and jeopardize assistance for thousands of Texans. The proposed rule would curb states’ abilities to set eligibility requirements for the food assistance program that helps feed millions of Americans each month. (Korte, 7/24)

NH Times Union: NH Hospital Wait List Is Down, Say Reports
According to new reports, the number of adults and children with mental illness waiting to get into New Hampshire Hospital has fallen over the past year, ending the long streak in what had become an out-of-control system. Gov. Chris Sununu, his administration and legislative leaders from both parties celebrated the new, much-lower numbers in contrast to just two years ago when as many as 72 adults and 27 children were left without a bed in the Concord-based program. (Landrigan, 7/24)

The Associated Press: Health System Offers Free DNA Tests For 10,000 Floridians
An operator of hospitals and clinics began offering free DNA testing on Wednesday to 10,000 Floridians in a partnership with a private genomics company. Some biomedical ethicists warn that participants need to realize their data can be used for purposes other than their health care. Researchers at AdventHealth in Orlando said the DNA test screens for an inherited condition that can lead to high cholesterol and heart attacks if left untreated. (7/24)

Des Moines Register: Jerry Foxhoven's Ouster From DHS Preceded Pay-Sharing Pact For Official
Former Iowa Department of Human Services Director Jerry Foxhoven said Wednesday that shortly before Gov. Kim Reynolds ousted him, he objected to having his agency continue to pay an administrator who had transferred to the governor's office. The governor's spokesman said Foxhoven never raised such a concern, and was not asked to sign the pay-shifting agreement for the staffer. The governor asked Foxhoven to resign June 17 as head of the state's largest agency. She has declined to specify why. Her spokesman, Pat Garrett, said Wednesday that the pay-shifting issue was not the reason the governor asked Foxhoven to resign. (Leys and Gruber-Miller, 7/24)

Tampa Bay Times: Mental Health, Weight Management And Substance Abuse Are Top Health Concerns In Hillsborough
Weight management, mental health and substance abuse are among the top health concerns for people living in Hillsborough County, according to a recent countywide survey of residents. Health care professionals and advocates gathered at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa Wednesday morning to discuss those and other findings in the survey, conducted every five years by the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County. More than 5,300 people responded as officials sought input from residents with varied ages, locations and backgrounds. (Griffin, 7/24)

The New York Times: Columbine High School Will Not Be Torn Down And Rebuilt
Facing community opposition, a Colorado school district said on Wednesday that it would drop a proposal to tear down Columbine High School, which has been confronting growing threats and thousands of curious trespassers since the 1999 massacre there. In June, the Jefferson County Public Schools in suburban Denver asked for community input on what, to many, was a radical idea to reduce Columbine’s morbid allure. (Healy, 7/24)

MPR: Minnesota Historical Society Offers Support To Dementia Caregivers
The Minnesota Historical Society is something like the state’s memory, preserving the state’s past. The society is also taking on the role of helping Minnesotans whose memories are waning because of dementia. (Cox, 7/25)

MPR: Hmong Farmers, HealthEast Write Prescription For Better Health: Veggie Boxes
Enter the Hmong American Farmers Association and HealthEast. Since 2016, they’ve partnered to provide fresh fruit and vegetable boxes to patients, giving people the opportunity to eat healthier on a regular basis. In turn the Veggie Rx partnership supports local Hmong farmers and helps doctors build stronger relationships with their patients. (Yang, 7/25)

The Baltimore Sun: Johns Hopkins To Study Polio-Like Condition Causing Paralysis In Children In Maryland, Around U.S. 
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the University of Alabama at Birmingham will study of a condition that mysteriously began ramping up in 2014 and has caused paralysis in hundreds of children around the world as well as in Maryland. Acute flaccid myelitis has been called polio-like, but doctors don’t know what causes it, though they suspect it’s a rare response to common enteroviruses that normally lead to far more mild infections. (Cohn, 7/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: NIMBYs Beware: Latest Bold SF Plan Asks Every Neighborhood To House The Homeless
On Thursday, the anti-poverty nonprofit Tipping Point Community will debut a new campaign called “All In.” It aims to secure 1,100 new permanent supportive housing units throughout San Francisco within two years. The goal is to add 100 units to each of the city’s 11 supervisorial districts. (Knight, 7/24)

North Carolina Health News: Houses Of God, And Harm Reduction
The North Carolina Council of Churches has been traveling around the state hosting these clergy breakfasts, wherever they’re invited, to discuss the opioid crisis and introduce harm reduction principles to the faith community. Just over 200 people have come to the breakfasts across 12 cities. Established in 1935, the council is comprised of 6,200 congregations and 18 denominations across North Carolina. Their clergy breakfasts are facilitated by Chris Pernell, the coordinator for their program Partners in Health and Wholeness, and Elizabeth Brewington, coordinator of their opioid response program. (Davis, 7/25)

The Star Tribune: Minneapolis' Bright Health Plans To Double Markets Where It Sells Health Plans 
Bright Health, the Minneapolis startup designed for the fast-changing U.S. insurance market, plans to double the number of U.S. markets where it will sell health coverage next year.The company said Wednesday that it plans to expand to 22 markets in 12 states, including offering insurance products for the first time in Chicago, Cleveland and Orlando. (Carson, 7/24)